Growing up in the NYC projects I was first introduced to canoes at Ten Mile River Boy Scout Camp when I was about 12. I thought it was great but there was no access to canoes, or places to paddle them in the projects. In 1966 when I turned 18 I worked that summer as a busboy and waiter at a resort hotel in the Pennsylvania Poconos. They had a large lake where you could take out rowboats or canoes. I was only interested in the canoes and had to pass a long distance swimming test in order to take one out. I paddled a lot that summer. The next time I got in a canoe was in 1971during a weekend Cindy and we spent at Whiteface Inn and canoed on Lake Placid in the Adirondacks.
We moved to Iowa in 1972 and bought our acreage in 1986. It has about a 7 acre pond and we bought an aluminum canoe to use on the pond. We soon started canoeing rivers on County Conservation Board trips and on local Sierra Club trips. It was at a Sierra Club trip on the Root River where I met Al and LJ and learned about their annual Memorial Day canoe trip and got connected with local paddlers.
Then about 2000 I started researching for a solo canoe and found PNet. It was the gateway drug to canoeing addiction. In 2001 I went on the first Ozark Rendezvous and became a canoeing junkie.
@Vic said:
Growing up in the NYC projects I was first introduced to canoes at Ten Mile River Boy Scout Camp when I was about 12. I thought it was great but there was no access to canoes, or places to paddle them in the projects. In 1966 when I turned 18 I worked that summer as a busboy and waiter at a resort hotel in the Pennsylvania Poconos. They had a large lake where you could take out rowboats or canoes. I was only interested in the canoes and had to pass a long distance swimming test in order to take one out. I paddled a lot that summer. The next time I got in a canoe was in 1971during a weekend Cindy and we spent at Whiteface Inn and canoed on Lake Placid in the Adirondacks.
We moved to Iowa in 1972 and bought our acreage in 1986. It has about a 7 acre pond and we bought an aluminum canoe to use on the pond. We soon started canoeing rivers on County Conservation Board trips and on local Sierra Club trips. It was at a Sierra Club trip on the Root River where I met Al and LJ and learned about their annual Memorial Day canoe trip and got connected with local paddlers.
Then about 2000 I started researching for a solo canoe and found PNet. It was the gateway drug to canoeing addiction. In 2001 I went on the first Ozark Rendezvous and became a canoeing junkie.
I’m still hooked.
And I’ve been the beneficiary of your addiction my friend, I only wish I could paddle with you more often!